The shadow of Sam Peckinpah’s controversial Straw Dogs and even Michael Winner’s Death Wish looms large over this British study of rape and vengeance. Gillian Anderson plays Alice, an icy businesswoman whose dalliance with surveillance expert Adam (Danny Dyer) leads to a car accident in a desolate forest. The two are assaulted by a group of thugs on the road, and Alice is raped while Adam is beaten badly. With little help from the police, the two decide to take matters into their own hands—and eventually come to enjoy their violent actions in the process. Originally entitled Straightheads in England, where it was met with negative reviews and a cool reception at the box office, Closure should find its audience here on DVD under its new, if somewhat generic, moniker. It does come through on its promise of edgy suspense, not-for-the-squeamish altercations and some surprisingly explicit sequences with Anderson in her birthday suit.

Shelf Talk: X-Files fanatics on the Web (and they are legion!) have been buzzing about this film’s eventual U.S. arrival, so they’ll be psyched that it’s finally here. Thriller fans also will be drawn to the surprising no-nonsense nature of the effort, which is similar to such female revenge faves as I Spit on Your Grave and Ms. 45. But Ms. Anderson still remains the key selling point.